On the Banks of the River of Heaven

October 18, 2010
Gods, mortals, and entities somewhere in between provide provocative reflections on human nature in this breezy collection of 14 fantasy stories. In "The Finer Points of Destruction," a divorced man caught in the crossfire between the Hindu goddess Kali Ma and her estranged husband, Shiva, draws on his marriage counseling skills to heal their wounds and his own. In "The Twa Corbies, Revisited," a flesh-eating ghoul ponders the nature of his ghoulishness and comes to a better understanding of the human being he once was. The title story is a delightful folktale meditation on the mysteries of love and friendship. Parks (Hereafter, and After) relates these tales in a lyrical style that is sympathetic without being sentimental, straddling the boundary between the realistic and the romantic.

December 1, 2010

In the title story, characters from Japanese mythology face a dilemma as the wrath of the Rain God separates a pair of Celestial lovers and Otter must solve their problem. A young man learns the difficult truth behind his father's profession in "The Man Who Carved Skulls." The 14 stories in this collection, many with Asian themes, demonstrate the distinctive storytelling abilities by the author of The Ogre's Wife. VERDICT At once filled with restraint and passion, Parks's stories, some previously published in magazines, should delight short fiction lovers and belong in most libraries.

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